


Stalking?  I Prefer Taking An Avid Interest In...

by KaijuGroupie



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-11
Updated: 2015-08-11
Packaged: 2018-04-14 03:10:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4547979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaijuGroupie/pseuds/KaijuGroupie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's the first time Remus is transforming with only 2 friends and he wants to know why.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stalking?  I Prefer Taking An Avid Interest In...

It was Saturday 19 November 1977 and in six days, Remus Lupin would be transforming with only two friends for the first time in since Fourth Year. Only, he didn’t know it yet.

Mid-afternoon on a Hogsmeade Saturday, Remus, along with his friends Sirius Black, James Potter, and Peter Pettigrew, had stopped in the Three Broomsticks to grab a Butterbeer before returning to the castle. Remus listened as James and Sirius got into over if their Quidditch teams were going to win the National Cup. He stopped pretending to care and Sirius was okay with that. Peter, though, would occasionally interject a comment, but even after seven years, his knowledge of Quidditch was not spectacular. He spent the time taking a mental tally of all the just plain wrong facts Peter shared while the others blathered on. After draining their first bottles, Peter and Sirius left the table to retrieve seconds for everyone. It was then that James began to act strangely. He held a cork and was focusing on it a bit too much as he flipped it between his fingers when he glanced up at Remus. Seeing the curious look he was getting, James breathed deeply, “I, er, I have to tell you something.”  
Trying to appear more curious than amused, Remus nodded for James to continue and kept his smirk to himself. James seemed to get more nervous and dropped the cork before he continued, “it’s about Friday. I can’t make it. I have Head things to do.”  
Rather than showing his shock and hurt in a public place, Remus forced a calm reply, “it’s okay. I understand. I don’t expect you to tell Dumbledore that you’re not free when you can’t give an explanation.” But, the truth of the matter was that is was not okay. It would have been okay if it weren’t for James not being around, citing Head duty as his reason. Remus had taken note of how much effort goes into being Head Boy as he had hoped to get the position, and it did not take as much time as James insisted it did. Although, Remus was glad he had more free time to pursue something he thought he wouldn’t get to have, and he had a theory that James was making up things for Lily and him to work on just so he could spend time with her.  
James didn’t question Remus as he had no reason to, so he smiled, relieved. “Oh, thank Merlin, I was so worried it would be a problem. I will be there next month, though.” Remus nodded as Sirius and Peter returned. Sirius gave him a curious look as he sat next to him, but Remus shook his head as he twined their fingers together under the table. Now wasn’t the time to get into it.  
___________

It was Sunday 20 November 1977 and in five days, Remus Lupin would be transforming with only two friends for the first time in since Fourth Year. And he wanted to know why.

Remus woke up early on Sunday. He had to find out why James wasn’t going to be there with him on Friday. He pushed the hangings apart as he got out of bed and squinted into the sun. Expecting to be the only one up, he quietly padded across the dorm to the showers. “Good morning, Moony!”  
The boy slipped in surprise as he reached the tiles. He picked himself up and looked around for a moment before he saw the gap in Sirius’ curtains. “Didn’t see you there. What are you doing up so early?”  
Sirius shrugged and Remus’ eyes followed his bare shoulder as he answered, “James woke me up. Singing in the shower. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think it was a Fwooper. Almost drove me mad before he left.”  
“Prongs was up early? And singing? Did he say why?” Remus could actually feel the gears turning in his head as his jaw dropped.  
“Close your mouth or put it to good use,” Sirius waggled his eyebrows as he continued, “but nope. He didn’t know I was up. My guess is a girl. Maybe he finally convinced Evans to give him a shot.”  
Remus snorted, “I doubt that.”

The rest of the day Remus was in the library studying, but he kept getting distracted. Why was James skipping out on him? Without James, would it even be safe for Sirius and Peter to come? James transformed into the largest animal, so he was the most adapt at keeping him in line. As a werewolf, Remus related to Sirius in canine form better, but without James’ size to force him back into line, would Sirius be enough?  
Finally giving up on getting anything done, Remus carted his things back to the common room. Seeing Sirius and Peter playing chess by the fire, he sunk into the couch next to them. His bag fell to the floor beside him, “where’s Prongs?”  
Peter shrugged and desperately kept looking for a move. Sirius tapped his finger on the table while he waited and responded, “dunno. He hasn’t been around all day. Figured he might’ve gone down to the library with you.”  
“Huh. No, he hasn’t been with me. Have you noticed him acting strangely lately?”  
Peter shook his head as he continued to look for a move. Sirius raised his eyebrow, “doesn’t he always act strangely? I mean, you are talking about James Potter, right? The same James that has no problem with wearing his pants on the outside for Quidditch games because he ‘has better luck that way?’ The same James that has asked Lily out at least once a week fourth though sixth year? The same James that bursts out in song in Minnie’s class for no reason other than he gets bored? Yea, the only way for him to act strangely is if he acts normally.”  
Remus was quiet at that. Sirius had a point. Sighing he pointed out a move for Peter. He watched Sirius immediately take his turn before he told them his most important piece of evidence, “he told me he’s skipping this month because of Head duties.”  
Sirius turned so suddenly he knocked the chess set to the floor. The pieces were protesting as Peter scrambled to collect them before they got too close to the fire.  
“He what!?” Sirius exclaimed so the whole common room looked at them. Regaining himself, he waved at everyone to go back to what they were doing and spoke in a whisper, “I stand corrected. What is he thinking?”  
Remus steepled his fingers and tapped his nose, “I don’t know, but I intend to find out.”  
___________

It was Tuesday 22 November 1977 and in three days, Remus Lupin would be transforming with only two friends for the first time in since Fourth Year. And he needed answers.

The past two days of classes sort of blurred into nothing. He spent too much time watching James for any bit of indiscretion, but was unlucky on all counts there. McGonagall noticed his lack of participation, but he was lucky that she attributed it to the upcoming full moon. Sirius and Peter knew the truth, and James hadn’t noticed.  
Nearing the end of dinner, Remus was mentally detached from the conversation going on around him. As James got up to leave he gathered his things. His head was ducked down to make sure he had all his parchment and quills, “well, I have to get going. I have a meeting.”  
Remus heard that part and grabbed Sirius as he got up to follow. He dragged the other boy along while making sure to keep James in sight. He slowed so they weren’t as close, not wanting to be noticed. “We have to see what he’s really up to.”  
Sirius shook his head and his long hair swung with the motion, “are you kidding me?”  
There was determination in Remus’ eyes, “No, I’m not. If you don’t want to, you can go back to the common room.”  
“Listen, I support you in most things, because that’s just what we do, but I think I’m gonna head back. James will tell us what he’s up to whenever he feels like it.”  
Remus turned back to Sirius and let their fingers drag together, “what if you’re not enough to control me? Did you think of that? I couldn’t live with myself if I did something to you.”  
“I am enough. Aren’t I always enough for you? So, it’s not really an issue.” Before Remus could argue, Sirius gave his hand a final squeeze and walked away. If Remus wanted to trail James, that was his prerogative.  
Fearing losing James, Remus quickly resumed following his friend, but it was too late. James was gone. Angrily, Remus stomped back to the common room.  
Sirius saw him right away and taunted him, “did you find out already?”  
“Lost him, thanks to you.”  
Peter laughed as Remus stonily threw himself next to Sirius, “why don’t you just check the map?”  
Sirius groaned at that question, his arm falling behind Remus. Remus just looked at Peter curiously, head tilted, “didn’t James tell you?”  
“Guess not.” Peter shook his head before carefully stacking a card onto his house.  
“It got confiscated when Filch saw him using it instead of actually patrolling. I guess Filch didn’t really know what it was or how to use it, but he knew that James was supposed to be in the corridors, so he figured it was for a prank. That was two months ago.”  
“He probably just turned it over, the bleeding goody-goody. Going against the Marauder’s Code all term. Evans has corrupted our Prongs. I just know it!” Sirius grumbled at Remus’ explanation and let his fingers tap angrily on his shoulder.  
“I guess I’m just going to have to wait until he comes back and follow him later.”  
But James didn’t come back until curfew. Remus angrily went to bed before he had to talk to his friend. He would find out more tomorrow.  
___________

It was Wednesday 23 November 1977 and in two days, Remus Lupin would be transforming with only two friends for the first time in since Fourth Year. And he had a friend to track.

He couldn’t help but fidget through all of his classes the next day. James’ Invisibility Cloak was in Remus’ bag. He didn’t care that it was creepy or probably unethical to steal his friend’s things to spy on him, but he had to know.  
After dinner, James left the same way as the day before. He threw his things in his bag and gave a piss poor excuse. This time Remus followed him out of the Great Hall and slipped the cloak around himself when no one was looking.  
Not wanting to forget anything, Remus muttered a spell to make his wand record whatever he said. “The Owl is walking down the charms corridor towards the tapestry of the Battle Trolls. Appears to be heading to the seventh floor.”  
Sure enough, James pushed aside the tapestry and walked through the wall behind it. Slowing his pace enough that he could still keep tabs on James unnoticed, Remus followed suit. There was little need for any note taking on the long stairway that lead directly to the corridor that was home to the Gargoyle that hid the entrance to the Headmaster’s tower.  
As soon as he passed through the exit, Remus noticed Lily waiting for James and whispered to his wand, “the Owl is entering Cuckoo’s office with Red Robin. Standby for notes upon their exit.”  
Remus settled himself on the floor and watched the Gargoyle. After a quarter of an hour, he began to get bored, but he knew he couldn’t leave. Thirty more minutes passed, his left leg went numb and he started to believe the Gargoyle was staring at him.  
That wasn’t possible. He was under an Invisibility Cloak. He stepped closer to see if he wasn’t imagining it, but the closer he got, the more it seemed like it was watching him. Its eyes seemed to be following him, but waving his hand in its face did nothing. Maybe he was imaging it.  
As he continued his investigation of the statue, it jumped aside. Remus immediately copied it. James and Lily looked around as though expecting to see someone. As he stepped away from them, he continued his spoken memo of events, “side note: Cuckoo’s Gargoyle can sense and inform him of people outside his office. Owl and Red Robin seem to be headed back to the nest.”  
His assumption was correct. James and Lily entered the common room. Since the hall was clear, Remus pulled the cloak off and slipped it into his bag. He went into the common room to see that James and Lily had split up. James was just getting into a game of Exploding Snap with Peter. Sirius was reading a book and shooting furtive looks at James. It appeared Remus might have a partner tomorrow.  
“Wotcher, Remus. Didn’t see you behind me, where were you?”  
Remus shrugged, “the library.”  
James nodded, but Sirius cocked an eyebrow. “Did you finish that Transfiguration essay, Sirius? Because I had a question for you about it.”  
“You know any of us could help you with it. What’s your question?” asked James.  
“You know I have no idea what you’re saying when you try to explain it to me. All that ‘it’s intuition’ bollocks. Besides, I left my essay in the dorm.”  
James raised his eyebrow at them and smirked, “you could just say you want to slip off with ol’ Sirius.”  
“Alright, I’ll go up and help you with it.” Sirius grinned and led Remus up to their dormitory. Once inside, his face turned solemn, “so did you find anything out?”  
“No, he and Lily had a meeting with Dumbledore for an hour. I wasn’t going to risk going up there. But I think Dumbledore’s Gargoyle can warn him if there are people loitering outside his office.”  
“Wouldn’t surprise me. Anyway, do you really have a question about the essay?”  
Remus nodded. He put James cloak in his trunk and pulled his parchment from his bag, “How exactly do you figure out what animal your Animagus form will be?”  
“Oh, that’s easy. It’s like a Patronus. You don’t know until you actually do it. Why else do you think we were all so surprised?”  
Squeezing that onto the bottom of the parchment, Remus groused, “They could have just said that in the book. Speaking of transforming, Friday, we have to stay in the Shack.”  
Sirius hummed in agreement. Despite his usual flippant attitude, he understood the graveness of the situation, “that would probably be best.”  
As Remus was drying the ink on his essay, James came up and changed out some of the books in his bag. Sirius glanced at Remus, “are you headed back out, Prongs?”  
James didn’t even look over as he responded, “it’s really loud in the common room, and I have to finish that Potions essay.”  
“That’s why we did it over the weekend!”   
“Whatever, Moony. I have to go so I can finish before curfew.”  
James turned and left. Remus was ready to follow straight away, but Sirius stopped him. “We know where he’s going. I’m going to help you this time, though.”  
He rummaged through his trunk and pulled out his mirror. Then he sorted through James’ things until he found the mirror’s pair.  
“Here, we can use these like Muggle radios.”  
Remus raised his eyebrow, “Why do you know about those?”  
“Had a run in with the police last time Prongs and I were on my bike. Now, we can head out.”  
“Why is that you and I never get into those sort of situations?”  
Sirius let out a huff of laughter, “because I have better things to do with you than bait Muggle cops.”  
On the way to the library, Remus briefed Sirius on his code names and they decided that they should use names for themselves.  
“I think Padfoot and Moony are good enough. How many other people know about those names?”  
“That’s not the point. I’m saying that if James were to hear us, he would know whom we were referring to. Also, I think we should stick with the theme. I’m going to be Blackbird.”  
“Why are you Blackbird? After all, I’m Sirius Black. It only makes sense that I be Blackbird.”  
“That’s exactly why you shouldn’t be Blackbird. Also, we need a codename for Pince.”  
“That’s easy. Vulture.”  
Remus chuckled, “That is the perfect name for her. And, it’s not too obvious who we’re talking about.” He scrutinized Padfoot as they walked, “I think Woodpecker would work for you.”  
“What? Are you bleeding kidding me? Stupid sod. I will not be Woodpecker.”  
“Too late, we’re here.”  
Sirius sulked as they entered the quiet library. They split up and systematically began to comb the library for Prongs. Fourteen rows of shelves later, Remus heard a muffled voice from his pocket, “Woodpecker to Blackbird.”  
He hastily pulled the mirror from his robes, “Come in Woodpecker.”  
“Owl has been sighted.”  
“What’s your 20?”  
“Er. What?”  
“Sorry, what’s your location?”  
“Oh, er, ten four? I’m in the Law section, row five.”  
“I copy. I’ll come around in Quidditch, row eight. That way we have them bracketed.”  
After circling around the selves to avoid being spotted by James, Remus pulled a large pile of books off of the shelf between himself and James. He was slightly surprised to see Lily sitting beside his friend. Smiling. It was almost surreal.  
“Blackbird to Woodpecker.”  
“Come in Blackbird.”  
“Why was I not informed Red Robin was with Owl?”  
“Didn’t seem important.”  
“She has a code name, therefore she’s important.”  
“You gave a code name to Snivellus.”  
“Actually, you came up with that.”  
“Well, Dodo Bird suits him.”  
Feeling that didn’t warrant a response, Moony settled down on the floor and pretended to read a book. He shoved the mirror between the pages so he didn’t have to reach for it every time Sirius wanted to mention something. 

Almost two hours later Remus was beginning to regret having Sirius help him on his mission. He was great at a lot of things, but he didn’t have the attention span to be of much help. “Woodpecker to Blackbird.”  
Sighing, Remus responded to the mirror, “Yes, Woodpecker?”  
“All I’m saying is that it would make more sense for me to be Blackbird, and don’t you think Woodpecker sounds like I’m a bit of a poof or something?”  
“You are a bit of a poof, though. The point of the code names is stealth. If someone else can easily divine who you are from your code name, there’s no point anymore.”  
“Fine. But, can I have a different name anyway? And, why do you get to watch them from the Quidditch section? I mean, your Quidditch knowledge could use a bit of brushing up, but there’s hardly anything interesting by the law books. Seriously, who reads Fowl or Foul? A Study of Hippogriff Brutality?”  
“We’re not here to look at books. Why didn’t you just stay back with Peter?”  
“You not wanting to look at books? And, no, he’s king of boring.”  
“I’m sorry, but can you please focus on the task at hand?” Remus flipped a page over the mirror so he could roll his eyes.  
“But they’re so boring. They’ve just been sitting there for like five hours now! How can Ja-Owl even stand that? It’s not at all like him.”  
“It hasn’t even been two, and that’s exactly the point. Now—“  
James and Lily began shoving books in their bags. “Move out, Woodpecker. I repeat, move out!”  
“Finally!” Remus heard books flop all over the floor as Sirius rushed towards the excitement.  
“Just remember to stay behind the target!”  
They dashed quickly and quietly behind shelves to keep James and Lily in sight. Remus had left the pile of books, but Pince wouldn’t even suspect him, so it didn’t matter all that much. He had more important things to deal with. As they got to the entrance, Remus realized why James and Lily were leaving. The library was closing. “Woodpecker, stay close. Don’t lose them in the flock!”  
“Ten four!”  
As they followed them into the open corridors, the crowds around them became good cover. Sirius got caught in a group of girls. His fan club. “Blackbird, I have a man down!”  
Remus whipped around to look, but he saw it was just Sirius caught in the crowd, “I copy, Woodpecker. I’ll stay with the target.”  
Remus was alone again. The further away from the library he got, the thinner the groups of students became. Eventually he had to fall back so he could barely hear James and Lily. He charmed his ears so they were more sensitive. All of a sudden it was like he was walking next to them.  
“Anyway, thanks for the help on the Potions homework, Lily. I definitely needed it.”  
“It’s no problem. Besides you helped me with my Transfiguration essay. How do you know so much about Animagi anyway?”  
“Er, I’ve studied them a lot. I hope to become one after school.”  
“That’s right. I remember you mentioning that.”  
Remus saw they were closing in on the common room. “Woodpecker, they are returning to the nest. I will try to hear as much as possible from around the corner.”  
There was no response from Sirius. In the back of his mind he was worried about him, but Remus continued to focus on James and Lily.  
“You’re sure you’re too busy to work out the next Hogsmeade weekend tomorrow?”  
“Yea. Pete mentioned something about Remus and Sirius acting strange, so I want to see what that’s about.”  
“Then, I guess I’ll see you Friday. I’m really excited, by the way.”  
“I know, I’ve been planning this for ages! You won’t be disappointed.”  
Remus heard Lily giggle. What. The. Hell.  
“I better not be. You made it sound so romantic. A picnic under the full moon. Although, I still think we should go down by the lake instead of the Astronomy Tower.”  
“Ah, well, you never know with the weather. Especially this late into November.”  
Their voices had stopped getting quieter, so Remus guessed they were stopped in front of the Fat Lady.  
“That’s true. Well, good night, James.”  
“Good night, Lils.”  
There was a long pause; then he heard it. It sounded suspiciously like a—no! It couldn’t be.  
Slowly, and only just far enough to peek, Remus leaned around the corner. He froze. What. The. Hell.  
He was still standing there staring at the spot Lily and James had been before they climbed into the common room. Sirius came around the corner and dropped his forehead on Remus’ shoulder from behind. “Blimey! I’ve just got rid of them. Bloody women. They’re mad. All of them. What’s wrong with you?”  
Remus hadn’t really paid attention. Sirius poked him in the side, “What’s wrong?”  
“I, er, I think the world is going to end.” He leaned back into the body behind him.  
“You haven’t been talking to Daft Daphne, have you?”  
“No. This isn’t something I heard in Divination. I just saw…” He trailed off, unable to finish.  
“Well, tell me inside. It’s getting close to nine and we don’t have the cloak.”  
“I want to verify anything before I tell you, okay?”  
“I guess.” Sirius scrunched his face in worry as he let Remus go to do whatever he needed to do.  
___________

It was Thursday 24 November 1977 and tomorrow, Remus Lupin would be transforming with only two friends for the first time in since Fourth Year. And he had a friend to confront.

Remus lounged on his bed as Sirius, James, and Peter played a game of Muggle poker. They had tried to get him to join, but he was still in shock from the night before.  
“Come on, Moony! I need someone to even out the stakes against Padfoot! No offense, Pete, but you’re just not that good at poker.”  
Peter shrugged, “I don’t really understand it anyway.” He randomly rearranged the cards in his hand again.  
Sirius let out a bark-like laugh, “how many times do we have to explain it to you?”  
“Maybe if you wrote out all the hands in order or something. I just don’t remember what’s worth more than what.”  
Sirius waved his wand and a rows of cards appeared in the air. Peter grinned, “Thanks.”  
James switched a couple cards in his head with purpose. “Sirius, you’re such a jerk. Those aren’t in the right order. Now, Moony! Get over here and play. You’re acting like we did something wrong.”  
Remus sat up at that. He tried to keep his face neutral, but he could tell he was failing. Sirius reached back to touch his foot. “What about you? Not telling us about you and Lily!”  
James’ face turned white. If Remus didn’t know better he would have thought Sirius or Pete had cast a spell on him. “I—how—what?”  
“You’re not denying it.”  
“I don’t have anything to deny!”  
“You do!” Sirius dropped his hand so he could twist around to stare. Peter just ignored all 3 of them and kept moving his cards around.  
The cards in James’ hand slipped to the floor, “oh and how would you know if I did or not?”  
“Don’t try to play it off! I saw you in the library, and I saw you outside the common room!”  
“But, Sirius said you weren’t feeling well so you’d gone to the Hospital Wing. Besides, you came in ages after I did. How could you have seen anything?”  
Sirius turned back to James, his face showed nothing but disbelief. Peter finally looked up at his friends and started laughing at them, “Prongs, Moony here has been stalking you.”  
“No! That is not true. I’ve just taken an avid interest in—”  
Sirius help in his laughter as he interrupted, “You had code names!”  
In an attempt to get the attention off of himself, Remus shouted his big find, “I saw you and Lily snogging outside the common room!”  
Silence.  
All eyes shifted to James. “I—yes. It’s true. We’ve been dating since mid-September, okay? She didn’t want me to tell anyone because she was afraid that I only wanted to go out with her to boast to everyone. I guess it was to prove that I really cared about her.”  
Sirius leaned off Remus’s bed and clapped James on the back, “Well, good for you! But, did she specifically say to hide it from us?”  
“Well, no. Not specifically. She told her friends, actually. But, honestly, who else would I tell?”  
Remus, Peter, and Sirius all sat stunned for a brief moment before bursting with laughter at the same moment. Peter finally calmed enough to speak, “You would have told everyone, mate.”  
A lopsided grin formed on James’ face, “Yea, you’re right.”  
___________

It was Friday 25 November 1977 and Remus Lupin would be transforming with only two friends for the first time in since Fourth Year. And he was okay with that.


End file.
